


Rose

by ClassicRockInTheTardis



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Wedding Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-13
Updated: 2014-09-13
Packaged: 2018-02-17 07:03:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2300732
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ClassicRockInTheTardis/pseuds/ClassicRockInTheTardis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ron and Hermione's wedding doesn't go as planned. At all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rose

Marissa’s One Shot

I did a lot of research for this, mind you, so I hope you like it. -P

“I don’t think I can do this. Oh god oh god oh god this isn’t happening I can’t go through with it oh god.”

Hermione Granger stood in front of the mirror, her mind spinning as the reality of the day hit her. Her breathing increased and her chest heaved in and out as she tried (unsuccessfully) to keep from hyperventilating. She couldn’t believe this was actually happening. And even more than that, she couldn’t believe that she was behaving like a complete female stereotype. 

“Get it together, girl,” she thought. “You’re tougher than this. If you can be part of the team who defeated Voldemort, you can sure as hell make it through today.” 

She slowly steadied her breathing, calming the physical reaction to the situation. But her nerves were still gripping her head with all their might. She stared at her reflection in the full length mirror: her hair slicked back into an intricate bun that would be impossible without magic, her necklace glinting in the light and casting a rainbow around the room, and her dress perfectly falling around her waist, the white train just long enough that she didn’t know how she would walk in it without falling on her face.

There was a gentle knock on the door as it clicked open. Hermione spun around, startled, and tripped on the train. It wouldn’t be the last time for that day. She fell to the ground in an entanglement of fluffy whiteness. She struggled to find her bearings, but she had somehow wrapped the hem around her head in her fall.

“Great. I’m going to die in a giant marshmallow.”

“Do you need some help there?” a familiar voice asked, half laughing, half concerned. 

“Wrackspurts are very common in these parts,” another chimed in, floating gently above the sounds of Hermione’s struggle.

“Ginny? Luna? Is that you?” Hermione called, unable to see through the whiteness of her dress. 

“I knew I shouldn’t have picked one with a train…”

Ginny and Luna quickly ran over and untangled her from her dress. Hermione stood up and brushed herself off, rustling it around until it fell where she wanted it. She smoothed out the creases and flipped the train behind her, but not before giving it an accusatory glare.

“Thanks,” she said, straightening up to get a good look at her friends. 

Luna looked at spacey as always, her blue eyes off in another world, her dirty blonde hair falling in spazzy ringlets around her face. She had a sunflower tucked behind her ear, but Hermione was grateful that she left the yellow robes at home. That would be difficult to explain to some of her relatives. Ginny looked much like she always did these days – tired. Stands of her red hair were falling out of their knot at the back of her head, and the bags under her eyes were starting to show. It was no surprise of course, what with the black haired baby on her hip and another on the way. Everyone had been surprised when Ginny got pregnant again so quickly after James, what with him being such a handful. Ginny and Harry were constantly chasing after James. He got into more trouble at the age of one than his father got into his whole life. But no matter who tired Ginny looked, she was always twice as happy, her deep brown eyes sparkling with the same light as her mischievous son’s held.

They were both in their bronze bridesmaids dresses. It had been no easy task for Hermione to find a color that could look good on both of them, but she finally did a few months before the wedding. That was one of the only things that had gone right. It was no easy task to throw together a wedding for Muggles and wizards. Hermione’s parents knew of course, but her extended family had no idea, and Hermione wanted to keep it that way. Which is why they were getting married in some “crumby old church,” according to her fiancé, instead of the Burrow. She hired a normal band, had ordinary decorations, and food that wouldn’t explode if you waited to long to eat it. Hermione even made sure that George was searched for any magical jokes before he checked into the hotel. She debated forbidding wands at the wedding, but after the War she didn’t want everyone to be completely defenseless.

They’d already had some slip ups, what between George’s smuggled sweets that he substituted for mints at the rehearsal dinner and little Teddy Lupin changing his hair color in the middle of the hotel’s lobby. Luckily both were caught before they could do much damage. Hermione only hoped they wouldn’t have to use any more Memory Charms. But the shear amount of people they had invited overwhelmed her. Not only was she getting married, but she was also trying to hide the fact that 200 people were wizards. It seemed impossible, and as far as one can get from her ideal small outdoor wedding on a waterfront. But her mother had insisted they invite her grandparents and then her aunts and uncles and cousins and then the friends they hadn’t seen for 20 years and then of course the Weasley’s invited all 231 of their extended family…

Hermione’s breath started to quicken again. Ginny quickly plunked James down on the bed and sat Hermione down in a chair. 

“Hey, hey, hey what’s the matter?” she asked, turning on the “mom” voice. 

“‘What’s the matter?’ I’m getting married in 3 hours, that’s what’s the matter! And I have a church load of people with magic spouting out of their ears, wearing a dress that I can barely stand in let alone walk in because I just had to be a girl for once and have the train and one of my maids of honor is pregnant–” 

“It’s not showing yet,” Ginny grumbled, slightly off-put.

“And already has a kid and it’s not just James but there’s so many little magic kids running around, like what if it explodes out of them, they’re so little they can’t control it, but then my relatives will all see, and I haven’t even seen any of the boys today so I have no idea what’s happening with them and what if something went wrong that I don’t know about and–”

Ginny cut her off before she could explode anymore. “Look it’s going to be okay. Trust me, I’ve been through my own wedding. Everyone feels this way. I mean, you’re getting married. It’s completely natural. I felt just as overwhelmed when I was going to marry Harry. Remember?”

Hermione smiled faintly. “Your hair was set on fire and Fleur went into labor right in the middle of the ceremony.”

“Worst. Wedding. Ever! Trust me, no wedding can possibly go worse than mine did.”

Luna, who had been staying out of the conversation up until that point, said dreamily, “The wedding itself doesn’t matter as long as you’re marrying the right person. Rolf and I decided just to get married at that flower shop run by Mr. Xing.”

Ginny pouted again. “I still can’t believe you didn’t tell me you were getting married. Harry and I wanted to organize a honeymoon for you to Egypt of somewhere.”

“Oh that’s okay. Rolf and I are going to Mexico in the summer to look for chupacabras.”

“Really? Let us know when, maybe Harry and I will try to join you before the next one comes.”

“Will James be old enough or–”

“HELLO!! We were discussing my problems! I am freaking out here!!!! How am I supposed to hide the fact that over 200 people here make magic sparks fly out of sticks?”

Luna and Ginny stopped their avid conversation and stared at her, as if remembering that she was still there. 

“Oh right,” Ginny said. “Yeah that’s a problem. You and Ron really didn’t think this whole ‘keep magic a secret’ thing through, did you?”

Hermione sighed. 

“I hope Ron’s having a better day than I am.”

“HARRY! HARRRRRRY!!!!! HARRRRRRRRRRRY!!!!!!!!!!!!”

“What? What’s wrong?”

“I can’t figure out what tie to wear!”

Ron Weasley turned around to look at his best friend and best man, who was staring at him in disbelief.

“You called me in here to ask about a neck accessory? I thought you wear being murdered or that you found another spider or something!”

Ron shrugged apologetically, holding up two ties. He held them up to his chest, trying to see which one looked better. 

“This one goes better with the suit but this one brings out my eyes and Hermione’s always liked my eyes but what if it doesn’t look right with her dress and–”

“Okay calm down, mate. It’s just a tie and both of them look fine.”

Ron sat down on the bed in a huff. 

“But it’s not just the tie. What if I’m not ready to get married? What if I’ve made the worst mistake of my life? Hermione’s amazing, she deserves so much more than me, what if she’s going to be unhappy? What if I can’t give her all she deserves? What if I’m jumping into this? I never–”

“Ron, Hermione loves you. And you love her. There is no way that you are making a mistake here,” Harry reassured Ron. “In the end, that’s all that matters. And it’s not too soon. If anything it’s not soon enough. When you love someone, that’s all that matters. Ginny and I got married less than a year after the War ended. You and Hermione have loved each other since you were 14. If there is anything in this world that I am sure of, it’s that you two are not making a mistake.” 

“But how do you know?” Ron’s voice was on the edge between finals-are-coming-up panicked and bloody-hell-that’s-a-giant-spider panicked. He twisted the ties in his hands over and over again, wrapping and rewrapping his hands. He stared down at them, avoiding Harry’s gaze. 

“…I just want her to be happy. That’s all I’ve ever wanted for her. But lately it feels like she hasn’t been happy around me. She’s been stressed and on edge. She’s always worrying and doesn’t come to bed until late into the night. I’m just worried that she doesn’t want to go through with this anymore or something…am I being stupid?”

He finally raised his gaze to meet Harry’s green eyes. 

“Yes you’re being stupid! She’s been planning a wedding. Of course she’s stressed! And this isn’t just an ordinary wedding. This is a wedding with your entire extended family, who just so happen to be one of the oldest wizarding families in the country. She has more than 300 people coming to the wedding and is trying to keep a massive secret from a third of them that’s about the other two thirds! It would be insane if she weren’t stressed out of her mind. Even at a normal wedding, girls get stressed. Remember Ginny planning ours?’

“She had 50 binders just for cakes. And then almost killed George when he messed up her color codes.”

“Exactly. They all get stressed planning weddings. It’s nothing out of the ordinary. Ron, Hermione’s going to be so happy with you. She loves you more than you could possibly know. I don’t know why, seeing as you’re a stupid, annoying git but–”

Ron punched him for the remark. Harry grimaced and clutched his arm in mock pain. 

“Besides, she could just be PMSing or something, you never know. According to Ginny, it happens at the most inopportune times.”

Ron laughed, imagining his little sister lecturing Harry about how much worse girls have it than guys. She used to give him and his brothers the lecture every month until it got to the point where he could predict everything she was going to say. Percy was still all awkward discussing “female” things, but Ron didn’t care anymore, having been so close to his sister for so long. Back in school he even knew her schedule and would bribe Fred and George to steal extra chocolate from the kitchens for her.

“No, no, it’s not that. I haven’t had to buy her more Tylenol and chocolate for two months and she always tells me to go out and get more a few days before.”

Ron chuckled, still imagining Ginny bitching to Harry about periods and being pregnant and labor. He shrugged his suit jacket on, picking the tie that brought out his blue eyes, knowing Hermione would like it. He tucked his shirt into his pants and looked up to see Harry staring at him.

“What? Do I have dirt on my nose again?” he asked.

“Ron,” Harry said as if debating whether to say something. “How long did you say it’s been since you last bought Hermione meds?”

Ron was about to answer, when he suddenly realized why Harry was asking. His eyes widened. 

“Wait, you don’t mean, you don’t think, does she know, oh my god oh my god HARRY I’VE GOTTA GO FIND MY FIANCE!” 

And without another word, Ron raced out of the room, Harry following at his heels. 

Hermione stood at the edge of the window of her room. Ginny and Luna had left, claiming they had to go fix the flower arrangements, but Hermione suspected that Luna had made that up to left Ginny have some time to rest before the ceremony. Merlin knows she needed a nap. The sun was high overhead. Hermione was glad that it was autumn because the heat would have been unbearable in the summer. There wasn’t a clock in her room for some reason, but she suspected it was a little after noon. The wedding started at 4. She was still nervous, but not nearly as much as she had been before, although there was still a strange feeling in her stomach she associated with the flu. 

There was a knock on the door. Hermione learned her lesson from the last time and slowly turned around, walking carefully to the door (after hoisting the hem of her dress to waist level so that she could walk). She opened it expecting to see Ginny or Luna again, only to find Ron standing there, his red hair standing straight up and breathing heavily as if he ran to her room. 

“Ron,” she said startled, stepping out of the way so that he could enter the room. “You’re not supposed to be here. The groom’s not supposed to see the bride in her dress until the wedding.”

“That’s just a silly Muggle superstition,” he said brushing it away. “I needed to talk to you. Harry and I were talking after I had a minor freak out and I realized–”

“You had a freak out?” 

“Yes I had a freak out, who doesn’t, I mean we’re getting married. But that doesn’t matter–”

“Of course it matters!” Hermione said, relieved that she wasn’t the only one. “I had a freak out too, like are we sure that we can pull off this wedding without any of my relatives finding out about magic? There’s already been a couple of minor slips and we’ve kept them away from your family. Ron, I don’t see how this is going to work, it seems impossible.”

“Actually,” came a voice from a doorway, “we thought about that, and we have a surprise for you two.”

Harry, Luna, Ginny, little James, and Neville (when he had gotten there, Hermione wasn’t sure because he had previously said that he had to teach) stood in the doorway of the room, all of them grinning from ear to ear. Harry looked pleased, like he always did when he got away with something at school without her knowing. Luna had an airy smile on, completely genuine, like she was watching something perfect she had played out in her head over and over again. Ginny had a classic mom smile, so happy because she was so proud of the two of them and she knew it was partly because of her. Neville just looked joyful, like he was a little kid at Christmas and was watching someone open the present he got them. James didn’t know what was going on, but had a goofy little kid smile because everyone else was happy, so he knew he should be too. The boys had their suits on (they got a special little baby suit for James), their ties perfectly watching the girls’ dresses. Luna had charmed the sunflower in her hair to sparkle bronze and Harry and Neville’s dark red carnations went perfectly with the copper tones.

Hermione was momentarily speechless. Compared to the six of them, she felt underdressed, a ridiculous notion seeing as she was wearing a formal wedding dress, but they formed a picture so perfect in her mind that she couldn’t imagine anything ever looking better. No matter how much changed, no matter how many additions were made, this would always be her family. Her, Ron, Harry, Ginny, Neville, Luna, baby James, and any children any of them would ever have. When Teddy was over, he was included too of course, but most days he spent at his grandmother’s. No matter what happened, Hermione felt anchored in knowing that these people would always be for her and she would always be there for them. Luna’s ceiling may have read, “friends friends friends” all those years ago, but Hermione thought that it should be updated to, “family family family.” No matter how many people filled that dusty old church, these ones were the ones that she truly wanted at her wedding. 

“Surprise?” she asked, slightly scared for what they meant by “surprise.” She had a horrible fear that it would involve either Nargles or a Whomping Willow or some other insane thing her friends were renown for pulling. If Harry brought out the Invisibility Cloak, she was out of there. “What sort of surprise? What exactly is this entailing? We have a wedding to get to in just a few hours!”

“We know,” Luna said confidently. “We planned this all out months ago, you’ll be back in time, don’t worry.”

“Come on,” Ginny said, grinning mischievously, looking like her old 16 year old self despite her being the mother to (almost) two children now. “We don’t have ages, you know!” 

Luna grabbed Hermione’s hand, Harry and Neville grabbed Ron’s, and Ginny kept a firm grip on her son as the four of them spun on their heels, dragging the other three into the darkness with the resounding CRACK! of Apparation. 

An instant later, all seven of them were high on a cliff over looking a large lake. They were high in the mountains. The air felt slightly thinner and Hermione was cold in her strapless dress. Ron took off his suit jacket and drapped it over her shoulders just as Harry shrugged his off and offered it to Ginny. Seeing what the rest of the boys were doing, Neville offered his to Luna. Ginny and Luna both declined, Ginny complaining that her pregnancy hormones were going insane and causing her to be hot all the time while Luna simply stated, “Oh that’s okay, I like the cold.”

“What are we doing here?” Ron demanded, sounding slightly affronted that his three best friends and sister had just kidnapped them to the mountains. 

“Ron, wait,” Hermione breathed, finally getting a good look around them. On the other side of the lake, high up on a ragged cliff, stood a grand castle, its turrets spiraling high unto the low hanging clouds. Its windows glowed with a rich, warm light, illuminated from thousands of floating candles. That castle that would forever be seared into her memory. They had come back to Hogwarts, back home. 

“Look.”

She pointed out across the lake, but he had already seen it. The others were grinning like idiots, relishing Ron and Hermione’s surprise. Hermione turned to look at them, smiling and wiping a few stray tears away that she couldn’t keep in. 

“Why are we…”

She trailed off as she stared at the image before her. Her four closest friends (and James of course, but they couldn’t let him out of their sight), her home that she found when no one at her house but her parents accepted her, the picturesque view of the castle on the cliff over the lake. It was the wedding she always wanted. The water, intimate, just their closest friends. And they had thought of one thing she hadn’t. Hogwarts. Home. It was perfect. She laughed while crying, finally realizing what the surprise was, letting her joy just come flying out of her. 

Ron still seemed to be in a state of shock. 

“But…I…you guys…you didn’t…I don’t…”

“Neville got ordained online once we heard that Mum was insisting we invite the entire family,” Ginny said, cutting her brother off as he grasped for words. “After Harry helped him figure out how to use a computer of course. We knew that the wedding would be chaos and that this is what you guys really wanted.”

“It was Luna’s idea,” Harry continued. “She thought you guys would prefer to have the real wedding the way you wanted.”

The four of them smiled again. Ginny was already crying, while Luna was smiling proudly. Neville pulled his wand out and walked up to Ron and Hermione. Unconsciously, Ron held both of her hands. She stared into his bright blue eyes, the eyes that she fell in love with, the eyes that she felt like she could drown in and not mind one bit.

“I wonder who picked his tie out. It really brings out his eyes.”

“Dear friends,” Neville began. Luna and Ginny stood to Hermione’s left, while baby James and Harry stood to Ron’s right. “We are gathered here today to celebrate the union of two faithful souls.”

“Wait!” Hermione cried. “We don’t have our vows, mine are on the table in my room.”

“And mine are…somewhere…” Ron added.

“It doesn’t matter,” Luna reassured. “Just say how you feel about each other.”

Ron looked nervous. He cleared his throat and began, “Hermione, when we first met, I thought you were an insufferable know-it-all.”

She giggled slightly, wiping away another tear before it could freeze in the cold, careful not to shrug Ron’s jacket off her shoulders.

“Now that I’ve known you for longer, I still think you’re an insufferable know-it-all. But you’re my insufferable know-it-all. You’ve taught me more in these past few years than I ever thought I could learn. And not just things that helped me pass Potions, but you’ve taught me more about the world and more about myself than I even know existed. You taught me the true meaning of loyalty. You taught me how to forgive and how to deserve forgiveness. You taught me that I need to pay more attention to the ones I love. You taught me to have more than the emotional range of a teaspoon.”

She smiled a bit at that, remembering how they used to fight when they were teenagers.

“You taught me I don’t have to fight for attention. And I don’t need anyone else’s attention but a fraction of yours. You taught me that I have strength of my own, not just from other people. But even more, I’ve learned from you that all of my strength comes from your love. That’s all I want in this world. That’s all I’ve ever wanted. And I promise, Hermione, that I will always love you. I will love you until the day I die.”

Hermione was crying now, the tears just flowing. Ginny was crying silently. Luna looked mildly impressed while Harry beamed at his best friend, tears streaming down his face faster than those of his wife. 

“Ron,” Hermione started, then corrected herself. “Ronald Billius Wealsey,” she said proudly, “You are the only man I have ever loved. You’re smarter than you realize and I’ve learned more from you than you’ve learned from me. Even more than that, you gave me a place where I could be myself. At home, people were scared of me, either because of my brains or my powers. But you, you were just irritated with all that. You gave me a chance to take down my walls and be myself. You’re the first person I’ve ever been completely honest with. You’ve given me something no one else could. You gave me a second chance. You may have been the one who thought you needed it all those years ago, but it was me that did. You see me for me. And you love me for it. You listen to me completely when I talk, even if it’s about something that you could care less about. You’re wonderful, Ron, even if you don’t see it. You’ve always been wonderful to me, and I hope that for the rest of my life I can help you see that. You’ve given me more than anyone had ever given me before, Ron, and you’re the love of my life.”

“Always the tone of surprise,” he said, crying now himself. 

Neville sniffed, saying quickly, “Do you, Ronald Billius, take Hermione Jean to be your wedded wife, to live together in marriage? Do you promise to love her, comfort her, honor and keep her for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and health, and forsaking all others, be faithful only to her, for as long as you both shall live?”

“I do,” Ron said, his blue eyes staring deep into her brown.

“Anddoyou,HermioneJean,” Neville said, speeding up as he held back tears, trying to get it out before he really started crying, “takeRonaldBilliustobeyourwedded  
husbandtolivetogetherinmarriage?Doyoupromisetolovehim,comforthim,honorandkeephimforbetterorworse,forricherorpoorer,insicknessandhealthandforsakingallothers,befaithfulonlytohimsolongasyoubothshalllive?”

“I do,” Hermione said, smiling while tears froze to her face.

“The rings, the rings,” Neville gestured to Ginny and Harry, holding his hand to his nose and sniffing in an attempt to not cry. As Hermione took the gold band, she marveled at how heavy and yet simultaneously light it was. She slipped it on Ron’s left ring finger as he slipped a smaller band around her own. Neville waved his wand gently and a shower of golden sparks fell on their clasped hands.

“You may kiss the bride,” Neville said, giving up on holding back the tears. Everyone was crying now and Ron leaned down and kissed Hermione, gently at first, then deeper as she reached up to pull him down closer. They broke apart, and he leaned his forehead down against hers. She giggled slightly for some reason. She was happier than she had ever felt before. The feeling in her stomach hadn’t completely gone away, but the joy that she felt over powered any nerves that she had felt before.

“We’re married now,” she laughed, still crying slightly. “We’re actually married.”

He kissed her again even though they were both laughing by now. All other sounds of the world were blocked out. Everything seemed to fade out of existence as Hermione stared into her new husband’s face. 

“Wait, what did you need to tell me?” she asked, remembering when he came into her room in a frenzy just a short while earlier.

“I can’t believe I forgot!” he exclaimed, his eyes flooding with even more light than they held seconds earlier. “Hermione, how long has it been since your last period?”

“About two months,” she said, not thinking about it. “Why?”

She trailed off, her hand floating down to her stomach, and then suddenly shouted, “Ron, we’re going to have a baby!” 

“How did I not notice before? It must have been the stress of planning the wedding that I completely forgot” 

“We’re going to be parents!”

“I’m going to be a mother.”

“What?” Luna asked in her common way, as if she was genuinely curious instead of startled. Her voice startled Hermione back to reality and she remembered her friends were standing right there.

Hermione was laughing harder than ever. Ron was grinning from ear to ear. They were laughing and hugging and crying. They had gotten married and discovered they were going to have a kid all in a matter of extremely surprising minutes.

“We’re having a baby!” Ron shouted, more joyful than Hermione had ever seen him, even when he discovered he didn’t need to go back to school for their seventh year.

Harry, Ginny, Neville, and Luna all started offering their congratulations. 

“Well done, mate!”

“Oh my goodness, a baby, I couldn’t imagine, you have to be careful, they’re common victims of Wrackspurts.”

“OHMIGOSH just think the kids can go on playdates and have other magical children their age to play with, I was worried about James getting lonely, but this is perfect!”

“You’ll never sleep again. Just kidding, it’s absolutely worth it.”

Hermione wasn’t sure how long they stood on the cold hill, but before long Ginny was worrying that James was getting cold. Hermione and Ron waited a few minutes after the others Apparated back, simply standing in each other’s arms, looking over the lake to the castle beyond. After a few minutes, Ron looked down at their feet and stooped over, picking something up. At the very spot where they kissed for the first time as husband and wife was a single, dark red rose sprouting from the ground. It had to have been made by magic. The ground was too cold for anything to grow. He presented it to her, and she gently smelled it before weaving it through her hair. There were no thorns or leaves, just the flower and stem, as if it was made for that very purpose. 

And with a small smile from each of them, they grasped hands and Apparated back to their family, ready to face their second wedding, knowing that no matter what happened, their perfect one was all that mattered.


End file.
